OSHKOSH – The race for Oshkosh Common Council is shaping up to be one driven by a single issue:

The city's controversial rental inspections program.

A new crop of candidates has emerged, motivated in part by their shared opposition to new rules aimed at getting landlords to open their doors to city inspectors. Two incumbents and six newcomers seek three seats, forcing a Feb. 21 primary to narrow the field to six by eliminating two candidates.

Many of the hopefuls have close ties to the real estate industry. They bemoan a council they say seems to push measures through with little public debate and view the program as government overreach and a grab for revenue.

The program, which the city plans to roll out in earnest this month, requires landlords to register with the city and asks them to open their properties to city inspectors once every five years. The city charges a fee for each inspection and may ask a judge to issue a search warrant if tenants refuse to allow inspectors into their homes.

But while the council race has brought opposition the law, the rental program could be in jeopardy on other fronts, too. It faces challenges in federal court and down in Madison.

The city intent to move forward with inspections has frustrated lawmakers, who say the program is out of step with the intent of state law. Rep. Rob Brooks, R-Saukville, who authored the law, says he is working to change the statute in order to block Oshkosh's inspections program.

Meanwhile, the city filed papers last week to place a lawsuit over the rental program in federal court.

A group of landlords, tenants and industry advocates say the city's law violates their Fourth Amendment rights that shield them from unreasonable search and seizure. They called the city's Feb. 2 motion a delay tactic, while attorneys for the city argued the "plaintiffs have suffered no harm and have no reasonable fear of harm regarding the city's ordinance."

Council vote draws opposition

Though distrust of the city's motives is a common refrain among new candidates, one hopeful previously took a dispute with the city all the way to the state's highest court — and won.

After his building was flooded during historic summer rains in 2008, Mark Showers, owner of Real Marketing Real Estate in Oshkosh, sued the city and a contractor for the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, who was installing sewer lines near Showers' business when the rains began.

The floods left seven feet of water in the basement, caused more than $140,000 in damage and forced Showers to relocate his business for four months while crews repaired the building.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled the contractor's decision to tear out a section of Ohio Street in front of Showers' business left it vulnerable to the flooding and that he could be held liable for the damage. For Showers, the case made him suspicious of city officials, who he said have seemed eager to make it harder for him to grow his business and build in Oshkosh.

“Being the owner of a real estate company and building my home, it seems like every time there is a path to be crossed with the city, it’s an obstacle course,” Showers said.

Though Showers said he does not own rental properties, he’s concerned the city might extend the program to single-family homes. This latest law is just another overreach, he said.

"My hope is that we can get some people on this council and repeal (the rental inspections law)," Showers said. "I think it's being poorly managed."

Four other candidates running for a seat agree.

Eric Baier, an Oshkosh locksmith, said he's skeptical the inspections will fix the core issue — blight in central-city neighborhoods. The new law invades tenant's privacy, he said, and won't encourage landlords to invest in Oshkosh.

"I think they found a solution that doesn't fix the problem," Baier said.

Robert Wilcox owns four rentals in Oshkosh and works for his dad, Evan Wilcox, also a landlord in town. He, too, said the rental inspection program prodded him to run for council.

Wilcox thinks the law is meant to counteract what he called "foolish" spending by the city, adding it will force landlords to pass added costs on to tenants. He also doesn't trust city inspectors to fairly gauge whether an apartment is clean and safe.

"I'm pretty sure a tenant can judge for themselves if a place is decent and sanitary," Wilcox said. "The city doesn't need to do that."

Likewise, Matt Mugerauer, who owns six rental properties in Oshkosh, said the program also inspired him to run. The city's program sends a bad message to small business, he said.

Matthew Stenerson, a candidate and University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh graduate student, said he opposes the program because he thinks it could negatively affect college students.

"The real reason I'm against it is I fear that it will result in rents going up," Stenerson said. "I think mostly there is the chance that rent will go up, particularly for those properties that aren't so good. The renters that are there chose that property for whatever reason."

Newcomer, incumbents back plan

The two incumbents seeking re-election, Deb Allison-Aasby and Tom Pech Jr., say the program is necessary to help improve quality of life.

The council's uniformity on the issue — the ordinance passed 6-1 last fall — is a sign of hard-earned consensus, not uncritical conformity, Allison-Aasby said.

"I don't know of any of us that have an agenda," Allison-Aasby said. "There's nobody on the council now that has an ax to grind. A lot of times, when people get elected and they actually sit in the seat, they realize that it's a lot more complicated than they thought."

Regardless, Pech and Allison-Aasby argue, this year's crop of candidates who are involved in the rental industry should recuse themselves from decisions about the law, should they be elected.

"You cannot vote on something that has a direct impact on you," Pech said. "There is definitely an ethical and moral question there."

Jake Krause is the lone new candidate for council this cycle who supports the city's efforts to regulate rental properties. He said landlords who care for their properties shouldn't have trouble absorbing a fee the city levies on inspections.

Krause said he sees a drastic shift as he drives from his home on a well-kept stretch of Washington Street toward North Main Street.

“Instead of just shoving (a rent check) in your pocket, you’ve got to maintain your rental unit,” Krause said. “If you wouldn’t feel comfortable having your niece or nephew or whoever living there, then why are you renting it out? If it’s not good enough for you, then it shouldn’t be good enough for other people.”